Across the trackless expanses of the northwestern frontier zones, far beyond the final vestiges of Great Qing sovereignty or protection, independent, oasis trade hubs survive and even thrive across central Asia during the chaos of the 16th & 17th centuries. They and their denizens, though largely cut off from the rest of the wider world, nevertheless serve a vital – though fragile – linkage between east and west. Here, north of the Taklamakan Desert, the Oirat Mongols continue to live much as they have these past several centuries… until a group known as the Dzungars under a rising leader called Batur Hong Taiji will start dreaming bigger: an Albany Plan of Union… with Mongol characteristics…

Time Period Covered:

~1680 CE

Major Historical Figures:

Four Oirat/Dzungar Mongols:

Baibagas Khan [r. 1585-1640]

Chechen Khan (Ochirtu) [r. 1640~1670]

Zaya Pandita [d. 1662]

Khara Khula [d. 1634]

Batur Hongtaiji [r. 1634-1653]

Sengge [r. 1653-1671]

Queen Anu of the Khoshuts [~1653-1696]

Boshoghtu Khan (Galdan) [1644-1697, r. 1671-97]

Other Mongols:

Altan Khan of the Golden Horde

Jasaku Khan of the Khalkhas

Dge-lugs-pa Tibetan Buddhist Sect:

The 5th Dalai Lama (Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso] [1617-1682]

Great Qing:

The Kangxi Emperor (Aisin Gioro Xuanye) [r. 1661-1722]

Major Work Cited:

Amitai-Preiss, Reuven & David O. Morgan (eds.) The Mongol Empire & its Legacy.

Halkovic, Jr., Stephen A. The Mongols of the West.

Miyawaki, Junko. “The Chinggisid Principle In Russia” in The Frontier In Russian History, Vol. 19, No. 1/4.

Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia.

Taupier, Richard. “Yeke Caaji, the Mongol-Oyirod Great Code of 1640: Innovation In Eurasian State Formation” in Asian Literature and Translation, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2018.

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